Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog LIVE!

In celebrating the works of Joss Whedon, The Institution Theater, the folks who brought you Teen Angst Tuesday and the successful run of The Prom episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, brings you DR. HORRIBLE LIVE, an all singing, all dancing, incredibly super villain-y staged production of Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog. Come out for a live blogging by the infamous Dr. Horrible. Swoon for the intriguingly cheesy Captain Hammer. And fall in love with Penny, the cute, nerdy type. And there's... Moist. He's... moist.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog is the best thing to come out of the endless picket line walking of the 2008 writers' strike. While we, the audience, begged for more brilliant writing the Whedon brothers and Maurissa Tancharoen were hard at work writing outrageously funny lines and cranking out toe-tapping tunes. And from that hard work we got a super villain desperately attempting to be accepted into The Evil League of Evil. However, his dastardly plans are foiled by his arch nemesis, the ever popular and dashing Captain Hammer.

DR. HORRIBLE LIVE stars many of The Institution's rising stars: Kevin Williamson, Brett Tribe, Justin Lavergne, Taylor Overstreet, Aden Kirschner, Carissa McAtee, Chelley Pyatt, David Zimmerman, Allison Asher and Jeremy Logan. Directed by Heidi Caldwell, the woman who brought you Teen Angst Tuesday's wedding episode of Party of Five. Assistant/Musical director is Chelley Pyatt, with Aden Kirschner as co-musical director and costumer, Madeline Chauvin as the technical director and choreography by Carissa McAtee. You can see the show every Tuesday in February (except Valentine's day) at The Highball. We promise a great time... with booze.

DANGER! The Improvised Lifetime Movie

In Danger! The Improvised Lifetime Movie, the cast presents a fully improvised cinematic narrative in the style of perhaps the greatest genre of our time: the Lifetime Original Movie. Following in the footsteps of such films as The Wives He Forgot and Stranger With My Face, we bring you into a world of deception, manipulation, anguish, constant eavesdropping, and excessively dramatic music. How many terrible things can happen to a woman who never has any clue what's going on? Join us and find out.

Directed by Amy Dietze and featuring Amy Carpenter, Madeline Chauvin, Karen Jane DeWitt, Carla Goodman, Clifton Highfield, Ashley Lowe, Nicole McCracken, Michael Pedicano, Lindsey Reeves, David Rosenbaum, Regina Soto, and Luke Wallens.

The Institution Theater CLUSTERFUNK: Too Much Improv

The Institution Theater CLUSTERFUNK is simply too much improv packed into one place with too many special guests to fit, but somehow it does. Join us as we roll out act after act featuring Institution's talented instructors and alums thrown together with guests from all over this fine metropolis of ours.

Our FEBRUARY 18 show will include:

A HAROLD
Thelma Almaguer, Joel Ausanka, Heidi Caldwell, Andy Campbell, Laura Komkov, Erica Lies, Jeff O'Leary, Susannah Raulino, and Michael Yew perform a long form improv Harold, weaving three stories together until they culminate in one final scene at the end, "when Harold is in the room."

CHRISTINE & JOHN
Those crazy wackadoos, the hosts of The Wheelhouse of Spectacular Wow Times, look forward to tickling your funnybone in the most inappropriate way!

THE LIVING ROOM
The Institution players (including owner/Artistic Director Tom Booker) spill their guts on an audience-elected topic to inspire improv vignettes.

Hosted by Madeline Chauvin (Danger! The Improvised Lifetime Movie, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Better Half)

RACKET: Rhythm Based Improv

RACKET: RHYTHM BASED IMPROV WITH OFF BEAT ACCOMPANIMENT. Take a dumpster dive into the world of odd improv with Racket! An improv show that makes music and scenes, work out of the oddest of objects. 

RACKET is a rhythmic improv show, inspired by Broadways hit STOMP and abstract powerhouse BLUE MAN GROUP. With a simple suggestion from the audience, the talented cast of Racket will launch into an auditory exploration of emotion, the power of (mis)communication, and make joyful noise that will leave the audience stomping out the door to make their own Racket! 

The cast of talented and diverse improvisors, dancers and musicians, specifically gathered to create an improv style unlike any other are given the task of collecting instruments made from every day objects, they will entreat the audience to listen to the sounds we make with our hearts, and the things we say without speaking a word. The audience is invited to participate in the production by bringing their own "instruments" from home, while creating a greater awareness of the impact our objects create on the environment. Featuring: Christine Giordano, Chelley Pyatt, Chad Wellington, Lisa Jackson, Indigo Rael, Justin Strackany, Jono Gray, Brandon Roesler, and Marc Majcher. Directed by Sarah Marie Curry.

CONFIDENCE MEN: Mamet Goes To the Movies

Confidence Men loves the stage. Their two B. Iden Payne Awards suggest, maybe, it loves them back. But they also love the movies. All movies. Between the six of them, they've seen way too many.

For the month of may, the rapid-fire sextet will pool their cinematic knowledge to improvise a two-act play set against the backdrop of an actual movie suggested by the audience. A French café from Amelié? The Amityville house? A glimpse at the men who shot Bambi? Confidence Men will blow the lens to a full zoom out to show you what doesn't even exist in the directors' cut.

CONFIDENCE MEN is Chris Allen, Tom Booker, Jeff Britt, Michael Ferstenfeld, Troy Miller and Asaf Ronen.

EACH SHOW WILL FEATURE SPECIAL GUESTS GETTING INTO THE THICK OF IT WITH THEM